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Posted in: Disney+, Review, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: disney, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Moses Ingram, Obi Wan Kenobi, Review, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi Part VI Sticks Landing by Playing Safe, Smart: Review
When 2005's Revenge of the Sith closed the book on Anakin Skywalker and opened a new one for Darth Vader, there were plenty of loose ends still to tie up in an otherwise rushed and bloated ending to the prequel trilogy before 1977's A New Hope. Aside from numerous projects from the Dave Filoni animated series in The Clone Wars and the two standalone features in Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018), we got our most ambitious project-to-date to close the gap further in the limited series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+. This is your minor spoilers warning moving forward…
One major plot that I hoped Lucasfilm in the Disney era would address that director George Lucas didn't was provide a greater exposition of the Anakin/Obi-Wan relationship. Ben (Ewan McGregor) was supposed to be that positive male role model that Anakin (Hayden Christensen) never got growing up. We're told oftentimes they had a deep affection for one another as much as a master-padawan relationship would have. Unfortunately, director Deborah Chow didn't add much to that, offering just a few training flashbacks that pre-date Attack of the Clones (2002).
Yes, it's a problem Chow inherited from Lucas' poor execution and I don't think more flashbacks would have hurt this Disney+ series as opposed to the previous one in The Book of Boba Fett (who heavily relied on them to its own detriment). As rich of a history as Ben has, it definitely would have benefitted him immensely as the series started to tie up loose ends. Predictably, you know following Part III, the series would have to make Ben confront Vader once more to make Ben's lines in ANH make more sense. At the same time, it was a lost opportunity to explain storyline-wise why Ben adopted the technique he would have in the film. Do have to credit the way they blended together Christensen and James Earl Jones' voices during the second Ben-Vader fight.
Expecting nothing less, the fight choreography was top-notch between the two, as well as that sequence that involved Luke's (Grant Feely) aunt and uncle, Beru (Bonnie Piesse) and Lars (Joel Edgerton). I'm glad the narrative was rewritten largely because they're far more known by their unfortunate fate in ANH. Plus the series largely pulled a bait-and-switch from the trailer focusing far more on Ben and Leia's (Vivien Lyra Blair) journey than advertised. There are developments that leave hope of what season two can be given how the events of the series are set ten years before ANH. We never really see Ben formally train in any of the on-screen canon nor do we see the relationship Ben and Anakin develop organically. I suspect that if we are fortunate enough to get that second season, we could see a time jump to see how Leia and Luke develop from adolescence to adulthood. Aside from Indira Varma's Tala, none of the other resistance characters that meet Ben and Leia ever really factor and it feels like O'Shea Jackson Jr, Kumail Nanjiani, and Maya Erskine are wasted given their talents.
Given the turn of events of "Part V", the motivations of Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) don't really seem to make a whole lot of sense other than for tension's sake. I mean I would have at least given another inquisitor something to do with Reva's arc, but it's another lost opportunity. Aside from some minor plot gripes, Obi-Wan Kenobi never took its foot off the pedal as far as what it wanted to focus on, but it could have done far much more to make the limited series truly special.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Part VI
8/10
When 2005’s Revenge of the Sith closed the book on Anakin Skywalker and opened a new one for Darth Vader, there were plenty of loose ends still to tie up in an otherwise rushed and bloated ending to the prequel trilogy before 1977’s A New Hope. Aside from numerous projects from the Dave Filoni animated series in The Clone Wars and the two standalone features in Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018), we got our most ambitious project-to-date to close the gap further in the limited series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+. And with "Part VI," the streaming series stuck the landing by playing it safe and giving the viewers what they've been waiting for.
Credits
Director
Deborah Chow
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